Up to 38,000 staff from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will be expected to move large distances as part of a reorganisation, a report has found. Some may need to relocate by up to 174 miles if they want to keep their jobs, the National Audit Office (NAO) said. The changes are part of long-term […]

The failure to predict the financial crisis was a “Michael Fish” moment for economists, the Bank of England’s chief economist has said. Andy Haldane compared financial forecasts to the famously inaccurate forecast by the BBC weatherman, ahead of the UK’s great storm of 1987. He said the profession was “to some degree in crisis” following […]

The UK government’s lack of support for start-ups attending the CES tech show is a “source of embarrassment”, according to the event’s organiser. Gary Shapiro compared the country unfavourably with France, the Netherlands and Israel. The head of one British firm at the Las Vegas event said the criticism was well-founded. But the UK’s Department […]

Lloyds is to buy credit card firm MBNA from Bank of America for £1.9bn, in the UK bank’s first acquisition since the 2008 financial crisis. Lloyds, which is nearly 7% state-owned, said MBNA would be a “good fit” with its own credit card business. MBNA, which holds assets of £7bn, would increase group revenues by […]

Banks must do more to tackle scams where people are tricked into transferring money to a fraudster, the regulator has said. The Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) was responding to a “super complaint” from consumer group Which?. This complaint highlighted the problem of “push” fraud whereby victims are conned into paying the wrong person. However, the […]

MPs are set for a 1.4% pay rise – well above the 1% cap imposed on public sector workers. The rise from £74,962 to £76,011, due to take effect in April 2017, follows another cap-busting increase of 1.3% earlier this year. And it comes two years after a massive 10% hike from £67,000 to £74,000 […]

Donald Trump has delayed an announcement on how he plans to separate his business empire interests from his role as US president. The US president-elect had been due to hold a rare press conference on Thursday to discuss how he would deal with perceived conflicts of interest. Mr Trump’s spokesperson said the announcement would now […]

“The business as usual” approach taken by many firms following the Brexit vote has helped boost UK growth this year, but it will not last, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned. The business body expects GDP to grow by 2.1% this year, up from the 1.8% it forecast just three months ago. But […]

The UK faces higher food prices without continued access to EU workers, 30 food and drink associations have warned. In a letter published in the Guardian, they argue that EU workers play an important role in the supply chain and some are already starting to leave. It called on the government to offer “unambiguous reassurance” […]

Some major banks are in advanced stages of planning to shift some operations from London to Paris, France’s leading financial regulator has told the BBC. Benoit de Juvigny said that “large international banks” have undertaken the due diligence needed to set up a subsidiary in the French capital. He also told Newsnight that “many other […]